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The Green Economy; How It Includes You

The Arab spring to the Occupy movement…social unrest from economic catastrophes left the world aghast in 2011 leaving many to lose faith in the current market-based economy that is in itself a self destructing time bomb in terms of natural resources depletion and inequality among men. All hope is not to be lost my friends…the green economy offers solution to several of today’s problems both short term and long term.

First of all going green is not a trend or a lifestyle…but a necessity. According to the World

Image Courtesy of Cartoon Stock

Water Council, 1.1 billion people lack access to clean water. Here in Kenya the situation is worse, personally I have to fetch water 100 meters from my apartment in Nairobi and I am not sure whether it is clean. In rural Kenya I may have to walk 30, 40 kilometers to search for water, the situation is grave!

Green Energy

This is no-brainer really, getting almost free energy from sun, solar and biomass is just plain simple. The world’s energy needs can be easily tapped from natural and renewable sources, scientific fact. Many companies and people who benefit from crude oil and other non-renewable sources often falsify research and claim that solar is ‘unscalable’ or wind is ‘immovable’ but the latest independent research even claims that the world could fully rely on green energy by 2030. Did you know the first car was powered by a biofuel? Yes it was powered by hemp seed oil, the only biofuel that can combust as is!

Alternative energy will most definitely reduce the cost of doing business subsequently bringing down the cost of living, improving your living standards while securing a future for our great grand children

Green Agriculture

Agriculture has been blamed for a stupendous amount of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the way we practise Ag today is as unsustainable as it can get. Most farmers in the world are considered conventional farmers in that they use synthetic chemicals (Most made from crude oil and natural gas) to try to boost soil fertility and a cocktail of toxic chemicals to get rid of pests, weeds and other unwanted organisms in the field. Not only does this system poison the underground water that we drink, we also eat the chemicals which have been absorbed by the plant so even if you wash with acid you are still ingesting chemical and you want food.

In the green economy, the modus operandi is organic farming, the oldest form of recorded agriculture that dates back 10 000 years ago. Hydroponics, aeroponics and permaculture are the few of the several innovations that boost food productivity while reducing the negative impact it has on the environment and making sure you are nourished with the safest food available.

Green Infrastructure

Modern day construction uses up a plethora of resources and the cost of running the building itself is magnanimous; not the high energy costs, water, fresh air, lighting may becomes a huge problem. In the green economy, emphasis is put on natural ecosystems and use of sustainable building materials like recycled prefab, metal e.t.c.

Commercial buildings are also responsible for a good chunk of the carbon emissions but we are now seeing green buildings like the The GreenHouse

Image by Anthony Kahonge

The bottom line is that going green offers a triple-bottom-line solution to most if not all of human problems, remember; Change begins with you :-) please share your thoughts in the comments section below…